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Christiane Amanpour. Photo by Peabody Awards.

Top 10 remarkable facts about Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour was born on the 12th of January 1958 in the West London suburb of Ealing.

She was the daughter of Mohammad Taghi her father who was an Iranian Shi’ite Muslim and Patricia Anne Amanpour her mother who was Catholic.

She is a British-Iranian journalist and television host and correspondent for CNN. She is one of the leading war reporters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

She has won numerous awards and gifted honorary doctorates for her astounding work.

She is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and hosts a nightly interview program Amanpour and Amanpour & Company on PBS.

Here are 10 remarkable facts about Christiane Amanpour:

1. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry that was established on the 4th of June 1917.

King George V created the order to reward contributions to the arts and sciences, public service outside the civil service, and work with charitable and welfare organizations.

It comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions and the most senior two of which make the recipient either a dame if female or a knight if male.

In 2007 Christiane Amanpour was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for exquisite services to journalism.

2. Amanpour is a philanthropist

Chief International Anchor for CNN Christiane. Photo by IAEA Imagebank.

Christiane has been a philanthropist donating her time, experience, and skills to help create a better world.

She has served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and journalist safety since April 2015.

She has also worked with other institutions like the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Public Integrity, the International Women’s Media Foundation, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and is a member of the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

3. Amanpour graduated from the university summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa

Christiane completed the larger part of her primary school education in Tehran, Iran.

She had been raised there till she was 11 years old before she was sent to a boarding school in England by her parents. 

She attended Holy Cross Convent at Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, and then, at the age of 16, she attended New Hall School, Chelmsford, Essex.

Amanpour then moved to the United States to study journalism at the University of Rhode Island.

In 1983 she graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism. In addition, Christiane had graduated from university summa cum laude which means with the highest praise, and Phi Beta Kappa which is the oldest academic honor society in the United States.

4. Christiane former was married to the former US Assistant Secretary of State 

Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour. Photo by David Shankbone.

Amanpour was married to James Phillip Rubin for 20 years. James was a former diplomat and journalist who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Clinton Administration.

He was also an informal adviser to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and to former President Barack Obama.

The couple had one child Darius John Rubin born in 2000 and in 2013 the family moved back to London to live permanently. It was announced in July 2018 that Rubin and Amanpour were getting a divorce.

5. She is a relative by marriage of General Nader Jahanbani

Sepahbod Nader Jahanbani was an Iranian general, distinguished fighter pilot of the Imperial Iranian Air Force, and the deputy chief of the IIAF.

Despite being executed by the Islamic Revolutionaries he is considered the father of the Iranian Air Force that he commanded for nearly 20 years.

He was the Leader of the Golden Crown, the first and national aerobatics display Iranian team. Christiane Amanpour was his niece-in-law because her uncle Captain Nasrollah Amanpour was married to the younger sister of Khosrow and Nader.

6. Amanpour has appeared in numerous films

Christiane’s charisma on screen is redoubtable. Not only did she cover tantalizing news worldwide she was also featured in films and movies.

She appeared in the popular show Gilmore Girls. Throughout the series, she was an inspiration to one of the main characters, aspiring journalist Rory Gilmore.

She has also played herself in newscasts in the films Iron Man 2 and Pink Panther 2. Amanpour narrated Women in War which was an episode of season 2 of Makers: Women Who Make America in 2014.

In addition, she voiced Enheduanna in Cosmos: A Space-time Odyssey and was a castaway on the BBC radio program Desert Island Discs.

7. Her news coverage during the Bosnian war brought about controversies

Joel Lion, Minister Ehud Barak and Christiane. Photo by Dovernewyork.

On the 22nd of December 1992, Christiane was reporting from Kiseljak, not far from Sarajevo.

Her emotional news coverage of the Siege of Sarajevo arose questions from viewers and critics about her professional objectivity. 

She reported that people in Sarajevo were dying from starvation, and the Serbs in Kiseljak were living in plenty. Her report was claimed to be unjustified and favored the Bosnian Muslims.

On the 9th of October 1994, The New York Times Stephen Kinzer criticized Amanpour’s coverage claiming she was sitting in Belgrade when that marketplace massacre happened.

He claimed she went on the air to say that the Serbs had probably done it when there was no way she could have known that.

Christiane defended herself by saying that there are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about. In addition, objectivity doesn’t mean treating all sides equally and means giving each side a hearing.

After this Christiane gained a reputation for being fearless during the Gulf and Bosnian wars and for reporting from conflict areas gaining an honorary citizen in the city of Sarajevo in 2006.

8. She is the chief international anchor for CNN

Amanpour first began working at CNN in 1983 on the foreign desk as an entry-level desk assistant in Atlanta Georgia.

She then covered the major Iran- Iraq war, the fall of European communism, and West Germany’s democratic revolutions sweeping Eastern Europe at the time.

This allowed her to move up in the company and served as a correspondent for CNN’s New York bureau in 1990. Amanpour’s reports of the Persian Gulf War gained her fame and took CNN to a new level of news coverage.

In 1992 she was promoted to the chief international anchor before leaving on the 18th of March 2010 for ABC news. She later returned to CNN resuming her original post and worked at ABC News as a global affairs anchor.

9. Christiane is the host of Amanpour & Company on PBS

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Christiane.Photo by U.S. Department of State from United States.

Amanpour & Company is a late-night global-affairs interview television program that runs on PBS an American public broadcaster, non-commercial, and free-to-air television network.

The program is hosted by Christiane Amanpour that runs for 60 min first premiering on the 10th of September 2018.

The show was created by CNN International and WNET to replace Charlie Rose in December 2017 after the eponymous host’s sexual harassment scandal.

In 2020, Christiane began doing the PBS daily program, Amanpour & Company, from her home in England, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her program is still viewed on PBS at many stations in various areas of the US.

10. She was diagnosed with ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer forms in or on an ovary resulting in abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body.

Treatment usually involves surgery, chemotherapy, and sometimes radiotherapy. This is regardless of the subtype of ovarian cancer the individual has.

Christiane announced in June 2021 that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had major successful surgery to remove it. She also said she has to undergo several months of chemotherapy.